Darius is quite the powerful offtank. He can destroy anybody with his combos. His ultimate is true damage so even if you build tanky you get rewarded. This guide focuses around giving him a little bit of mana, some magic resist, health, armor, and damage. The reason for mana is because you want to be out on the fields longer than usual, and Darius has VERY LITTLE mana normally. With alot of mana, AD, and health, Darius becomes an unstoppable killing machine. This build will tell you HOW to create the very unstoppable force we all cry out is "OP" and needs "Nerfing" well, that's Irelia's job. Now lets get down to it.

I take 21/0/9 because darius is a passive tank, he doesn't need defensive masteries. That's what the randuins and the other items are for. The 21 attack damage masteries is built around the fact that you WANT to be nuking the other champions health to almost nothing so you can ult him. The 9 is for things that Darius would need to have more sustain. Mana per level, 20% longer buffs, etc. If you want a little variety in your masteries, put some more points in Offensive. Darius relies on that extra AD to just barge in to a teamfight and destroy everyone. His natural tank style added to his extra AD creates an unstoppable force with...
Wait for it... TONS OF DAMAGE. :D

Items.
I build mine pretty straightforward.
Regrowth Pendant - The health regen is GREAT at the start. It helps you sustain while you farm against ranged solo tops like Nidalee.

Boots of Speed - I can't stress how important the boots are early game. Darius has little to NO movement speed in my opinion. He NEEDS these boots to roam around and farm up. Essential.

Philosopher's Stone - The added health regen, mana regen, AND gold per 5 makes this a great and cheap item to get. The philo will allow you to harass, win trades, heal up, and earn gold even when your starved.

Ninja Tabi - What can I say? Offtank? -TANK?- These are great boots to buy, two movement speed, and armor. What more do you want? ALSO CHEAP!

Mercury's Treads - Only get these if the enemy team has alot of CC and/or AP casters. These boots are costly but pay off against high CC champs like -Insert champion here :p-

Heart of Gold - Amazing item. So cheap. Extra health and more gold per 5. Even if you're doing great, I still suggest getting this item for it builds into your randuin's later.

Phage - Darius's build up to his bread and butter. I cannot STRESS ENOUGH how important this item is. The health, the damage, the passive slow? Darius has no real cc, his e really does not count..This gives him a chance to catch up to his enemies with his slow movement speed. GREAT ITEM! MUST HAVE!

Chain Vest - A ton of armor, builds into glacial shroud. Great for tanking melee DPS.

Sapphire Crystal - Okay, for such a cheap item, this is amazing and the rewards are also amazing. Darius has little to no mana early and mid game, this crystal gives you the chance to harass more and throw out more skills.

Hexdrinker - Dat passive. Magic resist is good against AP casters like brand and morgana, it also works against nukers like veigar. -:3- The attack damage is just icing on the cake. The passive will save your *** more times than you will remember.

Glacial Shroud - As I said before, mana is important to Darius, now you have mana, armor, and CD reduction. The CD reduction does wonders to your Q, and Ulti. If you miss it and don 't get a finishing blow, that's fine. CD Reduction baby.

Randuin's Omen - Okay, the amount of buffs from this item is crazy. Armor, Health, Health regen, all of these things and more contribute to a great off tank. This item will make you unstoppable and your presence all the more scarier.

Frozen Mallet - Okay, this item is your bread and butter. The amount of health you get is insane. Plus the passive, equals an unstoppable darius who can catch you. ALWAYS.

Maw of Malmortius - +1 AD for every 2.5 HP missing? With all your health items, thats gonna make for one scary Darius. This item is amazing to grab and the AD and MR is awesome if your up against heavy casters.

Frozen Heart - This item just finishes up your Glacial Shroud. Armor, Mana, and CD reduction. This ENSURES you'll never need to get another mana item again. :p

Last Whisper - Armor penetration and attack damage. This is your final item. Along with your armor pen runes, and your e, this will do WONDERS to any tank. A must have for Darius, and a great, cost-effective item.

I level up Q and W early because these are your main poke items. Utilize these as much as possible. Your Q is amazing for farm and the W is made for poke and last hitting. E has an insane cooldown, and is only used really to pull enemies into the fray in a teamfight. Try to put as many levels in Q and W as you can early game, don't ignore E though, it still is useful.
Q - Use it to farm and hit ranged targets like Vayne, Brand, Sona, etc. Its your poke.

W - Use this to last hit creeps and harass melee champs like Irelia, Kassadin, etc.

E - Only use this to pull an enemy into a turret, or into your team, don't waste this when your alone, unless you just want to pull him in to ult him.

R - An amazing skill, it deals around 300 true damage, try to stack blood stacks on the champion BEFORE ulting, it increases its power 100%.

Viable Summoner Spells
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Ghost - Use this to chase down enemies and run away from teams. A great spell and an even greater chasing down mechanism.

Ignite - Your blood stacks + Ignite = Insta-death. If you've just almost finished them off, they have blood stacks on them. Add the ignite and that's about 50-70 damage a second. Its crazy how strong this is.

Flash - Darius has no natural escape, so this spell is really versatile and a good pick if you'd like. (Since the Flash nerf, it isn't as useful.)

Heal - I can see where you're standing from if you want to use this. Darius is naturally tanky, so its not the best choice.

Exhaust - This spell is awesome. It gives you time to harass and poke and finish the enemy off. An almost definite choice if you are not going to use Ghost.

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BAD SUMMONER SPELLS.
Teleport - You're the solo top, this MAY work if you don't have anyone else running it, which you should.

Clarity -Glacial shroud is basically this but better. You don't need mana replenish.

Surge - AD, not AP. Fish are friends, not food.

Revive - Insanely high cooldown, plus you'll be mocked as a troll if you put it on.

Smite - You're not the jungler damn you!!! Yer a solo top, Harry.

Cleanse - You don't need this, you can take a stun or two and get back up into the fight.

Promote - Who in the **** actually takes this? Please enlighten me. -_-

Clairvoyance - Not Support Darius. Let your bottom bit** Soroka take this.

Pros.
High Sustain
Great health and damage output.
An okay farmer.
Very hard to kill.
True damage output


Cons.
No CC.
Very slow.
Some very high CD's.
Slow basic attacking.
Easily countered by ranged.

Work with your team by poking the enemy as much as possible. Try playing Weo Weo Darius by pulling in your enemies with your E. If you KNOW the entire enemy team is a bush, and your with your team, try to pull one out. Your E is great for team work and makes for a great engager. Try to stick near the front, your the offtank, after all. Go Ult hopping. Try to make your first ult a kill so its refreshed, drop the second or third one (If you get a kill with the second one) On the AD carry or tank, the true damage will nuke their health.

In the actual teamfight, utilize your Q to try to hit every opponent. Try to spread blood stacks like AIDS. Target the AD carry, let er' rip, and then ULT. After the AD carry drops, ult the support to finish him/her off. Their solo top is also a viable target to ult. Leave the tank for last. NEVER. FOCUS. THE. TANK. I cannot stress that enough.

When pitting yourself against an enemy champion, go with this skill sequence.

Q, E, W, R.
Q - Deals great damage and puts blood stacks on the enemy, starting off the fight.

] E - Pulls them in close to you, allowing some basic attacks, which equal blood stacks, and letting you deal even more damage to them.

] W - Your basic attack, but with double the damage. Use this to bring them down and discourage them. This skill will almost nuke any squishy, so keep that in mind when fighting.

] R - True damage. Use this to finish them off. If they are a little under half health, and have alot of blood stacks, go ahead and use it, its an almost guaranteed kill every time!

Darius (Difficulty - 3/10 ) - Fighting against another Darius. It all comes down to, who can take more hits? Before level six, try to harass as much as you can, mind you, you need to farm still. Always ensure he is ATLEAST at half health, because when he reaches level six, hes going to look for a chance to ult you. If he pushes to your tower, and tries to sneak a Q in there, as soon as the tower targets him, use your E to pull him in, and start letting loose. The trick is to ask your jungler for ganks, if you get even one kill ahead of him, he'll never be able to kill you.

Jarvan IV (Difficulty 7/10) - This guy hurts. Watch out for his flag, never step on it. Try your best to not drop too low, and keep a steady amount of harass. Level up your E more than usual, for that extra armor pen, plus your runes, will allow you to shred through him. Just, try not to be too aggro. Hes a very powerful combo champion and he WILL use his ult to win his lane against you.

Nidalee - (Difficulty 6/10) - She has so much sustain. Try to poke at her but for the most part, stay behind your minions! She WILL throw her spear as much as possible, and that thing freakin' hurts man. Whenever shes in cat form...Pounce on her! (Badum tiss.) She does not have the heal, She does not have the spear, and if she tries to leap away, PULL HER A** BACK. When shes in human form, watch out for traps, and try to make her burn her mana early.

Pantheon - (Difficulty 9/10) Oh man, this guy is probably Darius's BEST counter. His passive and his spear are SO annoying. Build extra armor and rush as much armor and health as you can. Whenever he shoots you with his spear, jump on him. Land every blow you can and back off. If you win the trades, his spear will start to do less and less to you. Also, remember, your ulti is TRUE DAMAGE! He cannot block it. Use that to kill him or drop him to next to nothing.

Shen - (Difficulty 8/10) His passive and vorpal blades will cut you down to nearly nothing. Try to stay a distance away from him and harass with Q. Whenever he has just used his passive, and Vorpal blade is on CD, pull him in, and drop him as low as you can, then back off. Try to win the trades and level up your E a ton. The armor pen, plus your runes, will cause you to start beating him in trade offs.

Gangplank - (Difficulty 5/10) His Q harass and his W oranges (Heal) Can be annoying, but, if you poke him enough, he'll waste all his mana on his W and E. Try to make him miss out on farm, so that he focuses his Q on the creeps instead of you. To counter him just take points in Q early, its really quite simple.

Riven - (Difficulty 7/10) Riven is annoying to say the least. She does not use mana or health, her spells cost nothing, so she will harass as much as possible. Watch out for her stun and when she begins her triple Q, back away. She almost always will build triple or double dorans blades if you start dominating her. The only known counter is to build buff AD back. Just be careful, Q will be great to poke her, win your trades, and you'll be fine.

Yorick - (Difficulty 10/10) This guy...He can put out so much harass and walk away with almost no health lost. There is no real counter to him. Stay as far back as you can, don't even attempt to harass him. Farm very carefully. Buy one or two vampric scepters to sustain his harass.

Q is all you need. It costs almost no mana and with a sapphire crystal you can use it over and over. Your blood stacks will bring the minions to low health so try to let the Q hit as many creeps as possible. Make sure they get hit by THE OUTER EDGE OF THE AXE!
Or else it'll deal 50% LESS damage. Your E is useless when farming, don't waste it. Use your W on a big creep to last hit it. All in all, just make sure you keep the creeps in the middle of the lane, they are MUCH easier to farm there. A little poke here and there won't hurt. Try to get your Q to hit your opponent AS WELL as his/her creeps.

Your ult is your friend. Use it to bunny hop from person to person. Try to tank all the damage, your tanky items will just absorb it and you can lead your team to victory. Try to take the red and blue buff often from the enemy camp. You need them to sustain and deal tons of damage. Oh and, please for the love of god, don't buy any lifesteal, its not worth it.

All those beware,
Enter if you dare.
Sona plays her last medley,
Because his ult is READY!
DARIUS!
DARIUS!
HE COMES AND KILLS,
YES HIS WISH IS FULFILLED.
DARIUS!
DARIUS!
THE HAND OF NOXUS!
KING OF ALL!
KING OF ALL!
DARIUS!
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